Richard Bevan

12 December 2009 - 30 January 2010

Closed 20 December - 5 January

Richard Bevan, <i>Untitled</i> (film still), 16mm film, 2009

Richard Bevan, Untitled (film still), 16mm film, 2009

Acclaimed artist Richard Bevan has produced two site-specific film works, continuing g39's programme exploring relationships between art and film as a gallery-based medium. Richard’s filmworks often make reference to the spaces he exhibits in. The work documents his interventions and small historical events in these particular spaces, re-played as a quiet reference to that space at a different time. Whether that time is yesterday or a decade before, it is never clear.

The first of Richard’s pieces is displayed in the ground floor space of g39. The film is a static exterior shot of the gallery, inverted and looking into the very space the work is being shown in. Even though the image is upside-down it is immediately recognisable as g39; but what may not be so immediately apparent is that the building’s exterior colour in the film is different from that during the exhibition. A decade ago g39’s frontage was painted baby-blue, and Richard has chosen to revisit this (his first impression of the gallery) by temporarily reverting the building’s exterior to the same colour paint – and then confining this ephemeral transformation onto coarse 16mm film.

Bevan’s employment of analogue technology and temporal references continues upstairs for the second part of his film installation. Once again, a small projected 16mm film takes the audience from the space in which they are standing into a hidden room through a now-concealed door, and through the bowels and more backrooms of the artist run space, ascending a cast-iron spiral staircase – a hidden architectural spine of the building. Each step of the staircase has been painted one of five primary colours to a rainbow-like effect, a signature device of Bevan’s.

Richard has also made a limited edition artist’s book in collaboration with Pernille Leggat Ramfelt as part of the show. For the book Richard invited a number of collaborators to contribute a response to his initial approach to and ensuing dialogue with each artist. The resulting book was made available to visitors to the exhibition as a means of navigating Richard’s exhibition in preference to the usual access material that is normally available. This is now available from g39’s online shop.

The following Artists were in this show:

Richard Bevan
This show is featured in Richard Bevan

Richard Bevan

12 December 2009 - 30 January 2010

Richard Bevan, Untitled (film still), 16mm film, 2009

Programme

g39 / warp